High school football: Lions loving their playoff den

Don't expect to see any wide eyes when Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin takes the field Saturday in a Division III playoff game against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

While none of the Lions have ever experienced a playoff game, they know what it's like to perform in a playoff atmosphere.

They've had to do it for eight straight weeks.

NDCL (8-2) started its season with losses against South and Chagrin Falls. It has won eight straight, pretty much because it had to if it wanted to play in Week 11.

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"I think that helps us a lot," senior Tim Helton said. "It takes the stress of the playoffs off us because that's what we've been playing every week, a must-win game. And that's what the playoffs are."

Since losing to South and Chagrin Falls to start the season, the Lions have won eight straight by outscoring the opposition, 350-70 -- or by an average of 44-9.

The Lions capped that run last Friday with a 21-0 win over rival Lake Catholic.

The victory clinched an undefeated championship of the NCL's Blue Division and the school's first home playoff game in school history.

NDCL will look to make it nine in a row against a talented, athletic team from St. Vincent-St. Mary on Saturday. NDCL's football program is 0-3 in playoff football games, but this is the first one the Lions will have hosted.

The Lions hope a change of venue, plus the renewed enthusiasm from the current eight-game winning streak, provide a winning formula against the Irish.

"The fact we've never won a playoff game makes this bigger than last week," senior running back Nick Evans said, "and last week was a big game for us."

Coach Byron Morgan said it wasn't a tough sell to keep his team's focus in the right place, even with the two losses to start the season. He said he and his coaching staff continued to preach their confidence in the Lions and practice hard, though not with a panic sense of urgency.

Evans noted the team was motivated throughout the offseason to make 2012 a banner year and didn't let the early losses derail those plans.

The losses meant there was a smaller margin for error.

"We knew if we lost again, the window would be smaller and smaller for the playoffs," Helton said. "The coaches kept telling us, 'We've gotta win out, we've gotta win out.'"

It took a bit of soul-searching for the team. Combined with the four losses the Lions absorbed to end the 2011 campaign, the losses to South and Chagrin Falls equalled a six-game losing streak for a team with big dreams.

It was a crossroads, senior A.J. Branisel said.

"We were sick of losing," he said. "We were on a six-game losing streak and we were sick of it. It was time to strap up or shut up."

The Lions' winning streak, as the statistics show, has been an impressive one. The dual-threat offense features quarterback Robbie Nash, who has thrown for just less than 2,000 yards this season, and running back Nick Evans, who has more than 1,300 yards despite missing two games.

The defense has been in lockdown mode since the first two weeks, giving up seven or fewer points in five of the past eight weeks.

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head," Branisel said when asked how he would game-plan against his own team.

Rest assured, the tradition-rich Irish are going to do their best. Said Morgan, "they have athletes everywhere."

SVSM is coming off a 16-14 win over Division V powerhouse Youngstown Ursuline, and its only two losses this season came against Cardinal Mooney and Division I Massillon.

It's a big game against a big-time opponent.

Just don't expect the Lions to be wide-eyed in awe when they take the field. Every game since the beginning of September have fallen into this category.

"(NDCL) has been there a couple times and no one's ever won a game," Helton said. "That's our motivation, to win it for ourselves, our school and Coach Morgan."